1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to a preconstructed folding food tray which is adapted to open and close easily and, more particularly, to a foldable tray blank and method of erecting the blank to form the constructed tray.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Fast, convenient take-out and prepared food services have become a way of life in modern society. In response to commercial demand, a number of package designs have been developed to facilitate cooking or reheating "fast" food in a microwave or convection oven. These art-recognized designs include several folding cartons which exhibit a variety of shortcomings.
The Chinese food pail is universally known in the take-out food industry. It is preconstructed at the manufacturing plant by folding a precut blank and fastening the gusset flaps with glue or metallic wire. Commercial products of this type have been offered by Fold-Pak Corporation since approximately 1977. These containers typically have a deep, narrow configuration which makes them unsuitable for certain applications. For example, the so-called pails do not provide for separate storage of different types of food. They are equally unacceptable for food which cannot be compressed prior to consumption.
Another type of food carton is fashioned in the form of an open tray for storing a predetermined amount of food. It is constructed at the point of purchase from a pre-cut, pre-scored carton blank. These blanks are typically constructed by manually performing numerous, time-consuming folding and tucking operations. The resulting container often leaks at the corners formed by interlocking tabs and slots. Some variations employ glue to secure adjacent panels. They are not leak-proof or reclosable, and are therefore unsatisfactory for packaging prepared and take-out food.
Zastrow U.S. Pat. No. 3,027,063 discloses a diagonally folded carton in the form of a tray, having interior gusset flaps formed at each corner. The gusset flaps are automatically held in place, without adhesives, when the folded carton is closed by a pair of interlocking flaps. This construction has limited application because the walls of the carton are erect only when the closing flaps are in the locked position. In its open configuration the carton is unsuitable for liquid containing foods which necessarily leak. Preassembled carton blanks cannot be stacked or nested to facilitate shipping and storage. Similar limitations are exhibited by the paperboard food trays and blanks described in Webinger U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,169.
Alternative prior art food cartons are constructed from a pre-cut, pre-scored blank to form a substantially leak-proof container for commercial products such as TV and microwave dinners. But, these cartons exhibit several significant drawbacks. Adhesive is deposited on the interior surface of the blank, specifically between the adjacent panels which form each corner of the carton. When exposed to high temperature, this adhesive can cause undesirable contamination of the contents. These cartons also require a disposable, tamper evident cover portion which is destroyed when the package is opened. They are neither stackable nor reclosable, and are not suitable for packaging take-out or prepared food.
This disclosure indicates a clear need for a folding food carton which overcomes the deficiencies of earlier art-recognized techniques.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a preconstructed, reclosable food tray which is substantially leak-proof and adapted for exposure to microwave and other high temperature applications.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a convenient, reusable container for an assorted selection of take-out and prepared foods
Another object is to provide a food tray which can be stacked or nested together in a space saving manner, and suitably wrapped for shipping to the end user.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a food tray which has improved operability and improved "closeability" and which affords improved protection to the food contents after reclosing.
A further object of the present invention is to provide folding tray blanks which can be constructed in a simple and efficient manner.
Another object of the present invention is to provide tray blanks of varying configurations which are adapted with cuts and score lines to form an assembled tray container for take-out and prepared foods.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an environmentally attractive food tray made from biodegradable material.
A further object of the present invention is to provide tray blanks which are adapted for manufacture from paperboard sheet stock using high-speed cutting and scoring machines.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide tray blanks using a minimum amount of stock during the cutting and scoring operations.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method of erecting the food tray with a minimal number of high speed operations.
Based on this disclosure, additional objects of the present invention will be apparent to those with ordinary skill in the pertinent art.